JoJo’s Bizarre Adventure: Eternal Paradise
by DatBean
Summary: Stands are now a secret only the highest powers in the world know about, and are researched in a secret facility - the Eternal Paradise Orphanage. Follow Johan Joestar, and his gang as they fight to escape their hell and find true paradise...
1. Eternal Paradise

"Wake up..." a deep voice grumbled.

"Hey... hey!"

"WAKE UP!!!" The voice barked.

Suddenly, a kid jolted up from a deep slumber in his seat. He had curly dark brown hair, spiralling out from all directions, almost covering his sunken and timid black eyes. He was bruised badly all over his face, wearing a plain white jumpsuit. He was completely afraid, looking around frantically, "who are you? Where am I?!"

He looked around, the room was almost completely dark, the only light source came from the dim lamp on the table between him and, the gigantic man sitting right in front of him, he looked like a military officer!

The large man gave a stern, menacing look to the boy, quieting his panic quickly. "You'll find out soon enough, now I need you to tell me some things..." he took out a clipboard.

"Name."

"Dustin..." the kid replied, "Dustin Royer."

"Age and Date of Birth."

"I-I'm 14, born December 21st 2005" Dustin muttered.

"City of residence."

"Oceanside, San Diego, California."

After a few more questions, the interrogator, finally finished. "Alright, now that you've answered all of mine, I'll answer some of yours" he stared directly at Dustin, "you see Dustin, you're unique... and you're currently at a special facility for kids like you."

Then light flooded into the dark room as the door opened and another similarly sized guard entered, "I'm here to take the kid" he stated.

Dustin noticed that the guard was carrying a large assault rifle, his heart sank as his mind wondered over why they would have armed guards at a facility made for children. "Don't worry Dustin..." said the interrogator, in a slightly more friendly demeanour "he's just gonna take you to your room."

As Dustin walked out the room, the man said, "welcome to the Eternal Paradise Orphanage, Dustin."

The two's footsteps echoes along the dull grey corridors. Dustin had so much more to ask! But the guard didn't seem like a talker, so he stayed silent.

'Why am I here?' He thought, 'did something happen? C'mon Dustin! What happened last night?!'

**The past**

Dustin was an introverted and isolated kid. He never had the courage to open himself up to anyone. Except for one person - his mother.

She was a loving parent, who Dustin always felt happy and safe with. She gave him all her love and kindness, and Dustin reciprocated that kindness wholeheartedly.

Sadly Dustin's father was the complete opposite. He was abusive and aggressive, constantly coming home late and drunk. Dustin could barely sleep as his mother's sobbing pleas for mercy were left unanswered, day after day.

Eventually, Dustin couldn't take it anymore. He went down to confront his father, but all Dustin accomplished was shifting his father's wrath onto himself. Dustin was beaten badly, while her mother could do nothing but watch, as her son laid on death's doorsteps.

Dustin had accepted his fate, and waited to be dealt the finishing blow. But then he felt a surge of power flow through him! He place a hand on his father just before he was about to throw the last punch.

And he disappeared. In an instant Dustin's attacker had just vanished from sight, almost like he was never there in the first place!

Though this was extraordinary, Dustin was too weak and hurt from the encounter, his consciousness fading, just after hearing a loud banging on the front door.

**Present**

"Here's your room" the guard muttered monotonously. He pressed a button and the door slid open.

"Hey!! What's this?! You brought me a roommate?" A voice yelled excitedly.

Suddenly Dustin felt an arm wrap around his neck as he looked at the person he would be sharing his new room with.

The kid looked much older than Dustin, around 17 and also wearing a plain white jumpsuit, but he could see that he was wearing some strange white gloves, patterned all over with the four suits: clubs, diamonds, hearts and spades in a stunning embroidery. He had messy silver-white hair with a pair of thick black and red strands curling out from the front. He looked back at Dustin with blazing but warm red eyes. His happy smile was confident and accepting, but his face had a small scar that slashed across the bridge if his nose, and a black spade suit symbol with a crimson J pointing down near the bottom of the his left cheek. Dustin caught a glimpse of a strange star shaped birthmark around the back of his left shoulder, near his neck.

"You can go now!" The boy ordered shooing the guard out, the guard grumbled and closed the door. "The name's Johan! Johan Joestar!" He said as he sent out a hand to his new roomate.

"...I'm Dustin Royer, nice to meet you" Dustin replied sheepishly.

"Dustin you seem kinda down..." Johan started, as he grabbed something out of his pocket, "you wanna game?"

It was a deck of black playing cards. Dustin was kinda confused, no one had ever asked him to join in on a game! "Uh... sure?" He replied.

Johan sat down and expertly began shuffling his deck, dealing out a hand of 7 cards to Dustin. Dustin could see that these weren't the average 1 dollar deck of cards - they seemed unique and mysterious, with a breathtakingly beautiful red and black kaleidoscope illustrated over the back. 'Woah... these must be a super expensive brand!' Dustin thought.

"So, you've ever played 'Prison Blackjack_' _before?" Johan asked.

"No, I never even heard of that game before" Dustin answered.

Johan started laughing, confusing Dustin even more, "ahaha! Yeah, I guess you wouldn't know about 'Prison Blackjack', after all..."

"You don't learn how to play 'Prison Blackjack' until you're _in_ prison." Johan's words made Dustin shudder.

After going over the rules, the two began their game. Though Johan was enjoying himself, casually playing while helping Dustin with any moves, he could see that Dustin still wasn't feeling it. "It must've been hard been thrown into such a strange new environment - I've practically been here all my life, so I can't really relate" he drew a card and looked up, awaiting his opponent's move.

"Yeah... to be honest, I'm still pretty scared" Dustin replied timidly and played a card.

"Well it's good they put you in my room..." Johan continued, "you won't have to fear anything with me around."

Dustin smiled a bit as he looked down and played another card, "thanks."

"So, I guess you're wondering why you're here aren't ya?" Johan muttered. Dustin looked up at him, did Johan have the answers he was looking for?

"I'll tell you the _truth_ behind Eternal Paradise Orphanage..." Johan sighed, "there's a phenomenon that the majority of the world is unaware of, hidden, bizarre powers within the human soul. They're called..."

"Stands."

He drew another card from the deck, "only the highest powers in the world have acknowledged the fact that they exist. And they use this facility to carry out numerous experiments: to understand how they work, why they exist and what ways they can benefit themselves off of them."

Dustin played a few cards from his hand onto the large stack, "so, does that mean that I have one of those... a 'stand'?"

"Most likely..." Johan answered, "but they won't carry out experiments on you until you've shown clear signs of having one." He placed the last card in his hand, "yes! ace of spades, looks like I won!"

"I guess - I only just about understand the rules" Dustin replied smiling slightly, 'Johan's not a bad guy, I can tell. Maybe it won't be so bad here...'

The door to their room opened up, and two guards stood before them, "Johan Joestar, come with us. It's time for your _exercise."_

Johan got up and walked over to Dustin, "be careful, there are tons of people here who will try and force your stand out. Don't let that happen" he whispered.

Dustin nodded, taking his warning to heart. "Wait Johan! What do you want me to do about the cards?" He asked.

Johan smirked, "don't worry about it!" And the door slid shut behind him.

Dustin looked back at the table to see that all the cards had vanished! "Huh?! How?! I didn't even see him touch them!" He sputtered, "was that... _his_ stand?"

Dustin rested on the lower bunk bed in the room. He looked around, taking in all that he could - though there wasn't much to take in.

The room was a boring metallic grey just like the corridor, they had a bunk bed, a small table, a heater and a door to the bathroom near the entrance but that was it.

But something that Johan said before stuck with Dustin, 'is this a prison?' He couldn't help but think that, and the more he looked around, the more it made sense.

Same clothes, no windows, camera surveillance, Dustin couldn't even leave! It wasn't a room, just a furnished cell, keeping Johan and Dustin locked tight.

A loud bell brought Dustin out of this deep thought, as the door opened. As he saw many more white jumpsuits walk down the corridor. Dustin left his room seeing hundreds of kids flow down the corridor, so he followed.

**Cafeteria**

Dustin's journey led him to the cafeteria where thousands of kids got their food. They place looked ready to serve hundreds of thousands!

Through all the commotion with kids rushing all over the place to get their meal, Dustin spotted Johan making his way towards the queue. He dashed over to him and saw that Johan looked kind hurt, he was breathing heavily, but he also looked pretty exhausted, kinda like he had lost a bit of the confident spark he had when they first met.

"Johan, are you ok?" Dustin asked deeply concerned.

"Y-yeah..." Johan replied, "this's nothing, those bastards have put me through much worse anyways.."

'Oh god, just what are these 'experiments'?' Dustin thought. Johan could see his friend's inner grief, and slung his arm around him just like how they first met.

"Dude, remember what I told you. You're still not 'ready' - so make sure you _never_ awaken or even reveal your stand." Dustin replied with a determined nod.

The two got their food, and made their way to a table. Just as Dustin was about to sit, a heavier, older kid swiped his seat! "Um... excuse me..." Dustin trembled.

The boy turned around, revealing a chubby face swollen to the point of bursting. He looked exactly like a person Dustin wouldn't even touch with a stick! "What?" The kid asked.

"W-w-well... I was gonna sit there, next to my friend..." he pointed a trembling finger at Johan, contently enjoying his food. "You mind?" He laughed awkwardly. The kid didn't. He just stared, his bulging eyes making Dustin feel smaller, and smaller.

But then his expression flipped completely, "Nah don't worry!" He replied, smiling wide, "you can sit here..." Dustin sighed, relieved it was over, but was grabbed by the boy's ogre fingers. "That is... if you'll fight for it!" Dustin screamed, instinctively pulling away as hard as he could.

"Will you? _Will you_?! C'mon! Let's fight!!!"

Dustin was being brought closer and closer, he could see a madness swirling within the kid's eyes.

With a loud bang, a red blur slammed right into the kid's face, instantly releasing Dustin of his torture. "What was that?!" Dustin yelled, with each second things were getting stranger and stranger to him. He stared closer at the glowing red outline of what saved him - it was an arm! And once he followed the direction it came from he saw...

It was Johan's arm!

But it was reaching from behind him, while he used both of his normal arms to eat. Johan stopped, and moved out of his seat, turning to the aggressor, "If you're gonna choose anyone to play games with..." and he shot the kid a menacing but charismatic gaze, "it _better_ be with me."

"Oh?" The kid looked confused for a second, but soon his own sadistic smile grew on his face, "_you_ wanna fight? Okay!"

Dustin shook with fear as he witnessed a strange aura growing out of the child, it twisted and turned until it resembled sort of bizarre, green creature. It attached itself to the boy's back and tendrils grew out of it, wrapping around his arms, and glowing a bright lime green. "I hope you're ready to die! Let's fight!!" And he lunged at Johan.

"Wanna bet?" Johan muttered.

Suddenly, the red arm that was attached to Johan, pulled away from him, revealing a body! The red humanoid figure was about the same size as Johan, but was dressed in a stunning sleeveless black, red and white tailcoat suit, with a top hat and a strange mask that had the same black and red kaleidoscopic patterning as the card backs on Johan's playing cards. The four playing card suits were adorned all over the gloves that the entity was wearing, it was... completely and utterly amazing!!

"Ace of Spades..." said Johan, "protect me."

And it obeyed his command, moving in front of Johan and taking the brunt if the brute's attack. Small shockwaves riveted across the cafeteria, sending food trays everywhere, however Johan was unfazed. Now the boy was wide open, and Johan was ready to launch his counter.

"Game over." Johan stated pointing at the kid. And Ace of Spades moved in.

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!!!!" He yelled as his stand sent a barrage of punches almost too fast to see! The kid slammed right into the shelves that held bundles of dirty trays, all falling on the defeated boy.

Dustin slowly turned away from the mess, and towards his friend, the victor - utterly speechless. All he could do was point and sputter sounds. The stand receded back into Johan, its gloves staying equipped on Johan, as he adjusted them and looked at his roommate, with a crazy big grin on his face, "so... welcome to the Eternal Paradise Orphanage Dustin! Our own perfect little hell..."

To be continued...


	2. Ace of Spades: Part 1

**Cafeteria**

"Welcome to the Eternal Paradise Orphanage Dustin! Our own perfect little hell" Johan stated grinning cheekily.

Dustin just stared with his mouth agape. Even after witnessing the unbelievable, he still couldn't believe it! But what stunned Dustin the most...

Was how calm everybody was.

No one cared! Everyone just continued eating their food, not even batting an eye. Anyone who's tray got flung just went and got a new tray. No fits or fuss! Only then did Dustin realise...

'Is this normal around here?!'

Suddenly, a team of guards flooded the room. In mere seconds, Johan, Dustin and their attacker were pinned down to the floor - with 2 assault rifles trained on each of them. Footsteps boomed forward towards the three, "Still making trouble Johan?" A voice asked sarcastically.

Dustin was barely able to looked up, just about seeing that the man making his way over to Johan was the same one that interrogated him when he first got here.

Johan was also able to take a glance at the voice, "Chief Miuller..." he chuckled, "still messin' around with the girls? Or have you finally found someone _older_?" The reply earned Johan a heavy boot to the side of his face, crushing his head against the polished, cold, grey floor.

"Guess he's _still_ got a mouth on him" Miuller scoffed, "but I'm sure some more _exercises_ will clean that up quickly."

Dustin saw that Johan instinctively flinched once the word 'exercise' was uttered. He piped up, "It's not his fault!" The attention of the Chief Guard switched over to the sudden outburst, surprised at who dared do it, "I was the one who started the fight, that guy was in my seat, and I pulled him off."

"Hmph, is that so..." Miuller muttered, "well, you're still new, so I'll let you off with a warning. You lot can rip each other to pieces anywhere you want, but no fighting in the cafeteria!" He snapped his fingers, and all the guards mobilised on him, carrying the defeated kid, and exiting the cafeteria.

As he left, a sinister snicker escaped his mouth, 'I just need Dustin to trust us...' Miuller schemed, 'once he does, he'll bring out his stand, and then - we can _begin_." A sadistic smirk spread across his face, as a new idea popped into his brain, 'although, a little _provocation_ might be able to get us there sooner...'

Afterwards, Johan and Dustin made their way back to their room. Dustin reminisced about their earlier encounter and looked to his roommate, seeking new answers, "I just don't understand why he was so eager to fight me" Dustin mumbled, "when he stared me down... I saw something - _evil_, I can't describe it any other way Johan!"

Johan rubbed the back of his neck, pondering over his response, and still in discomfort from the guards' assault. "Well... everybody's got some darkness hiding within them..." he looked up, staring in contempt at the grey walls, "it just happens to be that _this_ is the perfect place to bring that _darkness_ out."

"We call it 'Paradise Hysteria'."

He gave his friend a small, sorrowful smile and continued, "it's an illness - something that everyone here has in their own strange ways. Most of us have got our own way of _coping_ with it..." he sighed, "guess that kid just wasn't able to any longer."

'Johan...'

Dustin didn't know what to say. What could he say? All he could do was sympathise, fearful for the future that may lie ahead for himself - making him feel even gloomier than before.

Suddenly a fist punched Dustin lightly on the shoulder, quick and forceful enough to make him yelp. "Hah! Why so glum?" Johan jeered, his cheeky grin returning, "it's not like you're going insane already" he put a fist out to Dustin, "besides, I'll be there for you! Ready to pull you right out of the madness anytime!"

Dustin gave a content chuckle and pounded Johan fist weakly. "S-same here."

**A couple days later**

Eventually, Dustin had began getting used to Eternal Paradise's schedule.

Starting the day with a 7 AM wake up, the two had breakfast, then went to the school in the facility at 8, learning the standard subjects like English, Maths and Science for 7 hours. Afterwards they had free time to do anything they wanted for 3 hours, then dinner. After dinner, chore duties were handed out, anyone that finished quick could spend their remaining time cooped up in their room until lights out at 10.

**Junk Room**

After dinner, Dustin and Johan were ordered to go help out with organising the Junk Room, as punishment for their cafeteria brawl. Once the duo got there, they met up with a few other kids that were already there.

The first kid was Ruben, a bit younger than Johan, around 16. a blue-haired boy with an cheerful grin practically ready to fly of his face, "Yo! So you two are the ones working with us?" The two nodded, happy to help out in any way.

But their eager attitude was immediately torn down once. Heath, a much larger kid, with zig-zagging, strikingly bright yellow hair, approached Dustin, giving the boy a very mean glare from his small, dark oak eyes. "Don't get in my way. Try anything funny, and I'll beat the shit outta you, got it?" He snarled.

Dustin, he was completely intimidated by the brute's aura. Heath looked like the kinda guy you wouldn't want to meet in a dark alleyway, or even along an illuminated street! He obediently responded, giving Heath a quick "y-yes!"

As Heath trudged away, Dustin noticed the presence of a third child, Tim. He was very skinny, and postured himself in a way that made him as little and insignificant as possible. As Dustin looked at the messy light brown haired boy, he couldn't help but see himself.

The gang entered the room and began began their work. The place truly was a Junk Room. Boxes, crates and containers were scattered along the floor and shelves all around a large wooden table. Books lined themselves up along the top, strange nicknacks were grouped together all over the place, ready to fall everywhere at the slightest touch. The place was filled to the brim with one thing and one thing only. Junk!

"Yeesh, it's been a while since I've been on chore duty here" Johan stated, "never knew the place got so... cramped!" The 5 could practically hold each others hands in the small space the room provided, but got on with their job nevertheless.

While removing around a ton of boxes and trinkets on the shelves, Dustin came across a array of _interesting_ objects: rusty knives, bottles of acid, and even...

"Huh?!! Is this..." Dustin yelled out as stared fearfully at the object held in his grasp.

"Woah... that's a rare find!" Ruben announced, "it's a Glock 19 semi-automatic pistol! To think that one of those lousy guards would just leave one here, then again - tons of random crap gets left in here all the time."

Dustin carried on inspecting the lethal object. So it could be easily hidden, it was painted in a matte shadowy black, eating up any light that could hit it. Though the gun was small, it still had considerable weight. But Dustin would soon inspect it no longer, as Heath made his way to him.

"Give me that!" He growled as he snatched the weapon from Dustin, and walked away to relocate the weapon.

But the force from the event overwhelmed Dustin, causing him to fall back, and tripped over a broom. The broom fell down in front of him, landing right onto some book lined on a middle shelf. Suddenly, the books toppled over each other, one by one in a domino chain of literature. The final book slammed on a crystal ball, and it rolled right over the shelf edge...

And right on top of his head! Shattering on impact.

"Aaaagggh!!!" Dustin screamed out, furiously rubbing the top of his head, trying his best to ease the pain and remove any pieces of glass still embedded in his hair.

"Dustin! You good dude?" Johan asked, clearly distressed about the accident.

"D-don't worry, I'm fine..." Dustin replied, still soothing his scalp, "it was just an accident, what an odd coincidence though... heheh."

"Yeah... it was..." Johan mumbled, "well, if you say so... just watch yourself" he said as he walked away.

Dustin approached Tim, he was struggling to put a large container up on one of the shelves. "Uh... Tim? Can I help with that?" Dustin asked timidly as he got closer.

The only response Dustin got was a very slow nod, accepting his request. Once near, Dustin could see that the boy was shaking subtly all over his body, like he was experiencing his own miniature earthquake. Together, the task was completed with ease, but Dustin was still uneasy. "Tim... are you okay?" Dustin asked with caution and concern tinged in his tone.

"I'm sorry..." Tim whispered. Dustin moved closer after not quite catching his reply, "I'm sorry, so sorry... please forgive me... I'm sorry."

"What?" Dustin muttered, his concern turning to fear as his mind raced to understand what Tim meant.

"FORGIVE ME!!!!" Tim cried out, and bolted from the room, slamming the door.

"What on earth...?" Dustin mumbled. Why did Tim act like that? It was instant, random, practically...

Insane.

'Paradise Hysteria...' Dustin thought, 'how could such a terrible thing exist?'

Johan looked to Dustin, ensuring that his roommate didn't have any trouble. But was distracted by a tap on his shoulder.

"Yo Johan? Could ya help me with this?" Said Ruben pointing to a huge box, "we've gotta put this right on the top shelf."

As the two got onto the step and brought the box up to the shelf, Ruben looked to Johan, "You've got it right Johan?"

"Of course! Just leave it to me" Johan replied happily. But once Ruben stepped down, Johan came across an awful realisation, 'oh god! Maybe I bit off more than I could chew here...' he thought as his arms shook under the entire weight of the box.

Suddenly, Johan felt something. It felt like - crawling. He looked at his hand, to see a giant brown recluse spider resting on it! Johan screamed in terror, dropping the box behind him and hopping away from the step in an instant.

"Johan!!" Dustin yelled as he paced over.

But as the box fell to the ground, releasing an army of spiders into the room, it hit a plank of wood resting on the edge of the table, sending a rag on its other end flying. Unfortunately that rag happened to land right on Heath's face, causing him to walk back as he struggled to pull it of himself. Coincidentally, the place he put his next step was right where a skateboard was. Heath slipped, and the board was sent zooming in the air...

And right into Dustin's stomach!

Dustin keeled over, clenching his stomach tightly. "Again?" Dustin muttered through the pain.

Johan shoved Heath onto on of the dusty grey walls, "what the hell was that man?!" He snapped.

"What the fuck do you mean?!" Heath yelled back, "maybe _I_ wouldn't have tripped on that board if _you_ had just put that fucking box on the shelf!!"

Ruben placed a hand on Johan's shoulder, "sorry man... I thought you had it"

Johan, who had cooled down, sighed and went over to aid Dustin who still laid on the dusty floor. "Dustin, I'll take you to the infirmary okay?" Johan requested.

"No..." Dustin muttered, and slowly picked himself up, "it's okay, it just winded me that's all."

"Dustin..." Johan replied, a bit more sternly, "you've already been hit in the head and gut! I don't think that this is just a _coincidence_..." he came in closer, "I think one of them is an _enemy_."

"What?" Dustin whispered back. "You mean... one of them might be trying to kill us?"

The concept of other Eternal Paradise orphans being violent with one another wasn't something Dustin was foreign to, after all his experienced this on his first day! But it still wasn't something he was used to.

"Well, we don't know their intentions, but they're definitely not here to be all buddy-buddy with us. If you think you're okay to stay, then that's alright - just stay near me, we need to find out who the user is." He stated.

The room was silent, and an air of tension was spread all over it. As Dustin and Johan moved objects around and relocated boxes, they kept a sharp eye on Heath and Ruben, watching out for any suspicious actions.

But this atmosphere was broken once Ruben made another request. "Dustin, can you take out this trash bag?" He asked, pointing to a small, black, plastic sack.

Dustin accepted the task and dragged the bag of junk towards the door...

Where Heath stood.

As Johan looked away from his work to watch Dustin, he was able to turn around just in time to see Heath make a disgustingly eager smile as Dustin moved past him. Heath put a foot out, and the small kid toppled right over it. The black bag flew right up into the air, falling on a book on the edge of the shelf. The book fell, and nicked a long flat box, flicking the lock that held it shut open, and giving it just enough force to also fall off.

Dustin looked up in horror, as he realised that the book had just hit a set of kitchen knives, and they were all about to fall on him.

"ORAORAORAORAORA!!!" As the red blur that saved Dustin before had reappeared in front of him. Johan's stand, the Ace of Spades, had stopped every single falling blade, deflecting each of them with mighty punches. It snapped its sights onto a trembling Heath, and Johan was seething with fury.

'Dammit!! Of course it's Heath, that bastard!' Johan thought, remembering the events of each accident, 'he's the only one that was involved in each incident. I gonna break you to pieces!!'

But Johan assault was halted, as Dustin caught a glimpse of something - glittering. A bright white glint had caught his eye while on the floor! "Johan!!" Dustin yelled out, "there's something hiding behind this shelf!!"

Ace of Spades demolished the shelf facing it. Its white gloves breaking the oaken shelves with ease, and leaving a few craters within the wall behind it.

But there was no response, Ace of Spades didn't hit anything other than the shelf that was before it! Objects went flying, bumping into other items, and all Johan could do was await the outcome.

But Johan didn't notice what was happening behind him. A piece of wood had struck a glass bottle, causing it to fall and roll down the shelf on its side. The bottle struck a tennis ball, transferring it energy to continue the attack, the ball fell off the top shelf, and onto the next level, landing on a tray positioned diagonally as a ramp. At the end of the ramp was a plastic statue in the shape of an Oscar. The ball made impact with it and the statue made a graceful swan dive of the shelf, its head landing perfectly in the middle of...

A trigger.

In the tiny room the bang was deafening! And once the sound of something large hitting the floor met Dustin's ears, he scrambled up to look in terror as his friend laid on the floor with a red patch growing on his lower torso.

"JOHAN!!!" Dustin yelled out his eyes wide in a emotional mashup of fear, guilt, and anger at the sight of his wounded companion. But his psychological rollercoaster was suddenly ended by...

Laughter.

Dustin looked to his right to see... Ruben. His gaze looked, tremendously... no, overwhelmingly dark, as he stared at his downed coworker. "Ahahahaa!!! I DID IT!!!" He screech out, "it looks like even you Johan, with your Ace of Spades, lay defeated once in the face of my superior stand - Chain Reaction!!"

"I-it can be..." Dustin mumbled, "there's... no way..." but every second he looked at him, Dustin sank deeper and deeper into despair, "Johan..."

"Now, Dustin..." said Ruben, as his manic glare turned to the boy, "I think that's enough _provocation_ don't you?! Now show me your stand, and let's kill each oth-"

But Ruben's speech was cut short, as Ace of Spades dealt a powerful punch straight to Ruben's face, making him stumble back. "What?! But... but I killed you!" Ruben yelled, clutching his nose and staring at the stand in disbelief.

"Wanna bet?" Johan mumbled, as he lifted himself up and faced his opponent. Dustin could see that Johan was holding something in his hand. It was a 5 of Hearts, and it was burning up! The card disintegrated right in Johan's hand. "It's gonna take way more than wacky traps to beat the Power of Chance Ruben!!"

"Really?" Ruben asked sarcastically, "then let's see how strong this 'Power of Chance' is Johan."

Johan pointed confidently at Ruben with Ace of Spades standing behind him, back to back, holding out a fan of cards in each hand outstretched to each side, and also staring at the aggressor. He gave his usual smile brimming with excitement and charisma, "alright, let's start the game! Ruben!!!"

To be continued...


	3. Stand Stats 1

**Stand Name**: Ace of Spades

**Stand Master**: Johan Joestar

**Power**: A

**Speed**: B

**Range**: C

**Durability**: B

**Precision**: C

**Potential**: Infinite


	4. Ace of Spades: Part 2

**Junk Room**

The silence filled the cluttered room with an eerie suspense. Johan and Ruben watched each other, still as stones, awaiting the next move of the other. "Dammit Ruben... why?" Johan asked.

Ruben giggled a bit, and stifled the rest of his discomforting laughter. "Johan... the instant I arrived here, I accepted the fact that I would never see the outside world again. I accepted that I now lived in hellscape, where only the strongest survived!"

"So what?" Johan replied, growing more bitter at his opponent.

He pointed a finger straight at Dustin, still shaken on the floor. "_They_ have given me a chance, a chance to go back! All I need to do, is awaken his stand! And you are not going to stop me."

Heath's flee instinct screamed mad in his head as he darted towards the door. "Fuck this! I'm out!" He twisted the doorknob - but the door stayed put. Heath twisted, shaking the door vigorously again and again, until the handle snapped right off!

Johan and Dustin's eyes doubled in sized as their situation grew worse. "What the? Who locked us in here?" Dustin wailed.

Heath roared, "TIM, THAT FUCKER!!!" He slammed the broken doorknob on the floor. It bounced off the smooth wooden floor, and zoomed around the room, smacking right into a large white plastic bottle... right above Heath's head.

The bottle dropped and drenched a clear liquid over Heath's head. The boy screeched in pain as he try his best to wipe off the acidic liquid that was burning into his face.

Dustin wanted to throw up as he watched on in terror, as Heath's face slowly melted. He couldn't tear his eyes away from the sight, and neither could the others.

The horror show continued until eventually...

Heath's screaming stopped, as he collapsed onto the ground, lying limp and motionless.

Ruben exploded into laughter again, amused by the horrific display. "You'd think he would've caught on like you two! What an idiot!" He giggled.

"H-h-he's a m-monster..." Dustin trembled, seeing the exact same darkness he saw in the boy that attacked him a couple days earlier.

"You done, bastard?" Johan muttered. "I think it's time we start this game..."

Ruben eventually regained his composure, and a evil grin grew on his face. "Let's kill each other!"

Ace of Spades flew out of Johan, and bolted towards Ruben. Ruben smile grew wider, as he threw a knife right at Dustin! The stand intervened, deflecting the weapon. The blade soared towards the top of the shelves and bumped into a green and blue matryoshka doll before hitting the wall, sending the doll rolling off it and into a pile of boxes.

Before Ace of Spades could reach Ruben, the boxes toppled over him! Providing a frail but immediate defence.

The stand halted, not wanting to set off another chain with a careless attack. Johan moved in closer to check the boxes, watching out for any signs of Ruben's Chain Reaction.

"...shit.." Johan cursed quietly, "he's gone."

Dustin got up to see an empty space at the bottom of the box pile. The fear finally began settling in. Locked in a room with a psychopath out to kill, who's location was currently unknown. Dustin balled up as his breaths turned deeper, and his face paled.

'Are we gonna die here?'

"DUSTIN!" Johan shouted, waking his friend from his panic, "calm down... I'm still standing aren't I?"

Dustin nodded feebly and cooled down. "W-what are we gonna do Johan?"

"We've gotta find out how his stand works" Johan stated, "tch, I really thought it was Heath, but somehow Ruben was involved in all of the attacks on you. You got any ideas?"

Dustin thought back to the three chain reactions that targeted him: the gun and the crystal ball, the box and the skateboard, the trash-bag and the knives. 'What did Ruben do... what did Ruben do?!' He thought to himself again and again.

"I can't think of anything!" Dustin whined. But then a lightbulb flickered in his mind. "Unless..." he looked up at Johan, "I don't think Ruben can start any of these attacks himself! Other people have to start it!... maybe."

"That makes sense, he hasn't tried any attacks while we've been on the defensive" Johan replied, "but that just leaves us in a stalemate. He can't attack us, but we can't attack him either."

A bright flash of silver on the wall right next to the two caught Johan's eyes. "Ace of Spades! Strike that light!"

'Light?' Dustin thought. Suddenly he felt he heart sink as he remembered and shouted, "wait Johan! I think that light is a bai-"

"ORAORAORAORA!" Ace cried out as a barrage of punches smashed the shelf and wall behind it. A bunch of items bounced around the room, colliding with new objects and each other. And eventually, all of them flew right at Johan! From pots and pans, to knives and hammers.

Johan struggled, as Ace protected its master, "All of this... from just... a single attack?!"

A familiar laugh rang out in the room. "They actually fell for it twice!!" Ruben jeered, "well it's too late now. Everything in this room is my weapon, as long as there are objects, Chain Reaction can keep on going! And as you can see... there are plenty of objects in this room!"

"Bastard..." Johan muttered. He winced and grunted as the objects bashed and slashed his body.

"Keep on going, Chain Reaction" Ruben ordered, "destroy him!!"

"Johan look out!" Dustin exclaimed as he pointed to Johan's right.

But it was too late. A sledgehammer spun through the air, and smashed the right of Johan's face! The boy stumbled back a bit, slamming into the broken door, and using it as support.

Ruben's maniacal giggling returned, "that was a good hit, wasn't it?"

Johan wiped the blood pouring from his nose, "well you sure as hell didn't hold back." But before he could continue, Johan spotted something on the ground. His eyes widened for a second and a smile grew on his face.

"It's time we start playing for real!" Johan exclaimed as he bundled his left hand into a fist and stretched it out forward. Immediately the large spade on his gloved hand jutted out, and three cards were dispensed from the spade.

Dustin saw that the card was the same kind that he and Johan used to play all the time, and the same kind that disappeared earlier when he got shot.

"Destiny Draw!!" Johan yelled out as he drew the cards out of the glove. He took a glance at the three - and his grin grew even larger. He threw them up into the air, and the cards disintegrated again, vanishing into a wispy black smoke.

"What are you so happy about?!" Ruben replied, getting somewhat irritated by Johan's rising charisma.

"Let me show you!" Johan shouted, "Ace of Spades, light up the room!!"

Ace of Spades shot out of Johan again, and brought out its left arm, aiming it at the shelves surrounding the room. Instantly, the stand's left hand ignited, burning a bright red flame!

"Burning!!! Draw!!" Johan announced, as Ace of Spades began firing flaming cards out from the left glove! The cards lodged themselves into the wall, burning the shelves and items on them to cinders. The stand moved around the room, continuing to unload the entire deck, spreading the flame and the destruction.

"Huh? What?!! Wait a second!!" Ruben sputtered, "why isn't the fire sprinkler going off?!"

"You mean... _this_ fire sprinkler?" Johan questioned, holding up a large piece of metal. "Your stand uses all objects in a room to attack. It would be too obvious if I tried to break the sprinkler, so I gambled that you'd eventually break it yourself and endured the attack. Guess you didn't notice eh?"

"NONONONONONONO!!!!!" Ruben roared out, "this wasn't supposed to happen!"

"C'mon, don't be a sore loser" Johan joked, "either way you've only got 2 options: come out and try to escape, or burn down along with all your damn knick-knacks."

"Tch, _or_ I could stay hidden and wait for you to burn up in your own fire!" Ruben replied, erupting into his usually laughter.

But it was cut short by Johan's own chuckle. "You wanna bet?" He stated.

The flames zoomed across the wooden floor. Dustin scrambled along it trying to avoid them, but he slipped! Landing right in a pile of burnt toys. He screamed, already anticipating the pain of the flames spreading across his body... but it never came. In fact, the fire was... kinda toasty.

"HOW?!!" Ruben screamed, fear growing even more present in his voice as the outcome of the fight became clearer and clearer.

Johan started, "It's Ace of Spades ability - Destiny Draw. Depending on the cards I draw, I can get even stronger. Heart cards make me tougher. I can endure most pain with anything 5 or higher, the face cards outright negate any damage done to me. I can also pass the effects of a card onto anyone I want, or multiple If I draw more."

"So that's why..." Dustin muttered. He watched in awe as Johan switched the situation around with a single action. But he couldn't help but feel uneasy. There was something more to Johan's bright and confident smile. Even though it was slight, there was something...

Dark.

"There's one shelf left Ace! Burn it down!" Johan commanded.

The stand fired a barrage of burning cards. But, just before they could hit the shelf, a blue haired boy was flung right out of it, and into a pile of burning junk. Ruben stood up, frantically patting away the roaring flames on his white jumpsuit.

"Nowhere left to run Ruben?" Johan jeered.

Ruben brought out his own stand, a bright sparkling white humanoid stand, with a long arms and legs. It stared coldly at Ace of Spades with its blue visored face. Rage bubbled up in Ruben, "how?! How could you have overwhelmed Chain Reaction?"

"I already told you... there's no way the Power of Chance would lose to your stupid traps!!!" Johan stated.

The comment was exactly what Ruben needed to get tipped over the edge. He wailed and bolted at Johan with all his strength. "I won't lose!! Johan Joestar!!!"

But before he even got close. Ruben look straight into the black and red kaleidoscope of Ace's mask, followed by two white gloved fists.

"ORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORAORA!!!" Johan shouted, as Ruben was pummelled and sent flying straight into another burning pile, laying unconscious.

Johan smiled and pointed at the defeated boy, "Game Over."

Ace of Spades broke open the door with a blazing fist so Dustin and Johan could finally escape the burning room, with Heath in tow.

"A-are we just gonna leave Ruben there?" Dustin asked.

"Miuller and the guards can deal with their own mess" Johan replied. "Let's get back before they catch us."

**Johan Dustin's room**

"It's... it's over..." Dustin panted. The encounter drained all of his strength, both physically and mentally. Though to his surprise, Johan was in an even worse condition, covered in bruises, cuts and burns.

"Why didn't you give it to yourself Johan?" Dustin asked, "I wasn't hurt by the flames at all, so you must've given me the face card ability, but you're all burned up! Why?"

"I could take it" Johan replied, "I've had worse before... besides, I know some guys, I'll be better in no time." Though he could see that Dustin's mood wasn't sweetening. "I would say let's play another game of poker, but I'm out of cards" he joked, "Ace of Spades needs at least one day to refill the deck."

Johan made his way to the door, "I'll head out now then, you get some rest."

"Right..." said Dustin. He turned and crawled into the bottom bunk, digging his face into his pillow.

Johan stopped and turned back to his despairing friend. "Also, I'm sorry Dustin" Johan muttered, "you're new here, and right now I'm all you've got. But believe in me, I ain't dying anytime soon."

The door closed and Dustin was left to himself. "Just what is Eternal Paradise?" He mumbled, "what kind of person would create a place like this?"

"I can answer that question."

Dustin almost felt his heart jump out of his mouth as he bolted upright. "Who? Where?!" He blabbered, fearful of another attack.

The voice snickered. It sounded male, not high enough to be Dustin's age but not low enough to be an adult, with a hint of a foreign accent, possibly latino. "Check under ya pillow."

Dustin obeyed and placed a shaky hand under the pillow, feeling a rectangular object. He quickly pull out the object, and gasped as he realised what it was. A smartphone had been place there! Its bright light displayed a call going out to an unknown number.

"Ya Dustin Royer right?" The voice asked

"Y-y-yes! But, who is this?" Dustin replied.

"I think I'll leave that unanswered for now" the voice responded.

"Why did you leave me a smartphone?" Dustin asked. The orphans weren't given any technology, and never received anything from the outside world. Dustin never thought he'd even see one again, let alone one of the latest models.

"Johan asked me to bring ya one, I owe that tipo a lot" the voice answered. "But let's cut to the chase Dustin..."

"What do ya need to know about Eternal Paradise?"

To Be Continued...


	5. Stand Stats 2

**Stand Name**: Chain Reaction

**Stand Master**: Ruben Guldeburg

**Power**: E

**Speed**: E

**Range**: C

**Durability**: A

**Precision**: D

**Potential**: C


End file.
